general non-fiction word of mouth Adult Themes Kate Crawford The popular press has the cur rent generation of twenty-somethings pegged. Apolitical sensation-seekers with short atten- tion spans and no plans to leave home (much less buy their own). When will they start acting like adults? Kate Crawford’s Adult Themes is a meticulously crafted comeback to the ‘kidult’ epithet so commonly aimed at this generation. Drawing from a diverse stock of largely Australian sources, Crawford evaluates these generalisations in the context of recent economic and social trends. She argues that in order to understand the apparent refusal of this generation to mature, we must recognise that our current definition of ‘adult’ grew out of a socio-political climate vastly different to that of today. What we need, she argues, are broader definitions that reflect the diverse ways in which young Australians are adapting to an unpredictable workforce and rapidly evolving technologies. She suggests that this generation has become ‘the projec- tion screen for uncertainties about social change’, warning that the name-calling often used by media commentators (eg ‘Generation me’, ‘adultescents’), serves only to disenfranchise the young – effectively excluding them from public debate. Crawford, herself a jour nalist and lecturer in media studies, offers a highly compelling (while at times slightly repetitive) thesis. A book for anyone who has ever been told to grow up. ★★★ Macmillan $32.95 Reviewed by David J Hawes William Lines Non-ﬁction $34.95 Frank Brennan Non-ﬁction $34.95 Frank Brennan Non-ﬁction $23.95 Gerard Windsor Gift/Humour $19.95 Good reading available now www.uqp.uq.edu.au The Gods of Freud Janine Burke Australian art historian Janine Burke has tackled a mighty subject here: Freud’s collection of Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities. Burke avoids discussing psychoanalysis, instead focus- ing on the development of Freud’s art collection over a forty-year period. The Gods of Freud is a surprisingly humanistic portrait of Freud as a spendthrift, obsessive collector. The book is illuminated by vivid descriptions of tur n-of-the-century Vienna, an artistic and intellectual background that, I admit, I read with more keen interest than I paid to the abundant details of Freud’s apartment furnishings and home life. Through her thorough research, Burke parallels the progress of Freud’s career with the growth of his collection, endowing specific objects with symbolism and relevance to Freud’s inter- ests at particular times. For example, his interest in archaeology and ancient mythology led him to begin collecting, and at that time he was working on The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), another for m of excavation and symbolic retrieval. Of course, the familiar paradox of Freud can be detected: although he spent his life investigating the neuroses of others, and despite his regular attempts at self-analysis, Freud’s own obsessive collecting (he amassed around 3000 objects) went by unquestioned and unexamined. Burke’s study is therefore a bold and necessary re-evaluation of Freud’s life. ★★★★ Random House $49.95 Reviewed by Jesse Stein